Late Night Rants
by littlev123
Summary: After having a less than pleasant encounter with Captain Tylor, Kim feels the need to rant to someone about it. The first name that comes to her mind? The ever calm and understanding Katori, of course. Takes place after episode 20. Katori/Kim with mentions of past Tylor/Kim. Oneshot.


**A/N: After watching the brilliant series that is The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, I felt the need to contribute to the sadly small fandom. As I was watching I noticed how well Kim and Katori got along and, well, shipping happened. This is a fairly simplistic oneshot, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!**

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><p>"Feel free to visit if you want to talk again…"<p>

"Ugh, as if! I'll never try to have a serious conversation with you again, Captain." Kim huffed over her shoulder before storming out of Tylor's room. The mechanical door slid shut behind her, leaving her peeved footsteps to echo in the hall.

An aggravated frown on her face and irritated sparks flashing in her eyes, she walked around the corner and saw Harumi exiting her room. Upon noticing Kim, Harumi placed a gentle if slightly troubled smile on her face.

"Hello." Harumi paused, noting the less than pleased expression on the first lieutenant's face. "Is…something wrong?"

"Everything's just fine." Kim replied through gritted teeth. She continued down the corridor without pausing, passing by the confused Harumi. She was _not_ in the mood to talk right now; all she wanted was to get away from Tylor's room as soon as possible. The farther she was from that idiot, the better.

Finally she reached her room and entered. Once inside, she flopped down onto her bed and glared up at the ceiling.

Kim still couldn't believe it. She had known the captain was dense, but to completely ignore her when she was confessing her love to him? That was awful! He had no right to toy with her emotions like that. Sometimes she just wished she could strangle some sense into him.

Realizing that simply lying there on the bed was only riling her up more, she rose and glanced at the mirror on the vanity. An ugly scowl met her gaze and, after a few moments, she looked away from the reflection unhappily. That nasty expression would probably give her wrinkles if she kept at it.

Deciding to put her fury into something productive, she grabbed her nightclothes. Once changed, she sat down in front of the vanity and opened her manicure kit. She started working on her nails, concentrating her energy onto the action of filing rather than angry thoughts.

A half hour passed. She observed her nails, noticing with annoyance that it looked less than satisfactory. Sighing, she gave up and placed the tools back into the kit.

Rage still simmered in her chest with no indication of leaving anytime soon. She highly doubted she could sleep even if she wanted to. She absentmindedly tapped her buffed fingernails against her leg as she thought.

Kim needed to vent to someone, someone who would listen and sympathize with her. That would definitely make her feel better. But who?

Katori.

His name popped into her mind immediately.

It was his turn to watch the bridge tonight, so he would definitely be there. Unlike most of the crew—including herself, at times—he never slacked in his duties. That decided, she stood up and left her room.

The cool air brushing across her legs as the door shut reminded her that she was still in her pajamas. She debated going back and changing into her uniform, but chose not to. Most of the crew was already asleep and, even if someone other than Katori did see, no one would actually care.

Kim made her way down the hall and pointedly took a separate route to avoid walking by Tylor's quarters. As she expected, she didn't meet anyone on her way and soon found herself at the door to the bridge. The slab of metal slid open and she walked inside.

Katori swiveled his chair around when she entered, a cup of green tea held in one hand. He looked a little surprised at first—she never took night shifts and she was in her nightclothes, after all—but he welcomed her nonetheless.

"I didn't expect to see you here tonight." He commented lightly, easily picking up on her unsatisfied state. "Are you alright?"

Kim walked over and plopped down in her own seat with a sigh. "Something happened a little while ago that got me upset and I wanted someone to rant to. Do you mind?"

"Not at all." He reassured. "Would you like me to make you some tea to help you relax?"

Despite herself, a small smile appeared on her face at his caring gesture. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't want any right now."

"Alright. I'm all ears." He responded, raising his cup to his mouth to take a sip.

"Okay, so, earlier I went to Tylor's room to tell him I love him—"

Katori suddenly choked on his beverage and started coughing, unintentionally cutting her off.

Kim worriedly rose to her feet. "Are you okay?"

He quickly nodded and cleared his throat. "Ah, sorry about that…go on."

She hesitated before sitting back down. He hadn't sounded too enthusiastic, but maybe that was because he had just gagged on his precious tea.

"Anyway, like I was saying, I went to his room to talk to him. I sat down on his bed and basically told him how I felt about him, but he completely ignored me! He was more concerned with his stupid TV than listening to me. Can you believe that?!"

A wave of relief washed over Katori, although immediately afterward a surge of guilt followed. He shouldn't feel that grateful to hear that she had been rejected. Pushing aside his own suppressed elation, he focused back on the topic at hand.

"That's terrible." He sympathized.

"Isn't it?" she agreed. "He always seemed so kind and carefree…but I guess he's_ too_ carefree. I thought he was different from all the other brute men onboard, but I guess I was wrong."

She wistfully placed her chin in her hand, glancing to the side. It seemed the fire of her anger had burned down to the ashes of grief. Her change in emotion quickly squashed Katori's previous relief and replaced it with empathetic melancholy.

"It's their loss that they don't realize how amazing you are." He insisted.

At his kind words she looked back at him with the beginnings of a soft smile. "Thanks, Katori. But now that I think about it, I really was wrong."

"But—"

"Not all of the men here are idiots." She continued. "You aren't like them. You're the sweetest person I know."

A blush started to rise to Katori's face and he tried to wave her compliment off. "Oh, I'm sure that's not true."

"It is! You just listened to me rant about some guy like a heartbroken teenager without complaining once." She paused and placed a finger on her chin in thought. "You know, maybe what happened was for the best. I doubt I would be able to handle having an idiot like that for a boyfriend. I don't think I actually liked him that much…I guess the whole Tylor almost dying thing clouded my judgment for a while. I must sound like the idiot now, huh?"

"I don't think that at all." Katori gently disagreed. "It was a hard time for everyone. It only makes sense that you felt that way."

"Yeah, it did, didn't it?" She said, sounding more like she was convincing herself rather than Katori. After a moment she returned her attention to the blonde with a pleasant smile. "You really do always know just what to say."

"It was nothing. Anyone could have said what I did."

"There's such a thing as being too modest, you know." Kim commented with a hint of playfulness. A comfortable silence settled between them, simply enjoying the other's presence.

Suddenly, a harsh ringing sound erupted, shattering the moment. Kim gasped in surprise while Katori nearly jumped out of his chair.

"What in the world is that?" She questioned over the loud clanging. Standing up, she headed toward the source of the noise; the captain's chair. Under the seat, along with several other random objects, was an alarm clock. With a huff, she turned it off and raised it to show it to Katori.

Katori, a hand on his chest as he tried to calm his pounding heart, nodded to show that he saw it now.

Even when Tylor wasn't present, he still managed to ruin the mood.

Kim haphazardly tossed the clock on the seat before heading back down to Katori. "Well, I guess I better be going to bed anyway. I don't want to ruin my skin by staying up too late."

"Alright."

"But first," Kim stepped over to him until she was right next to him. Then, she leaned down and left a light kiss on his cheek. "Thanks again, Katori. Good night."

Having effectively stunned the male into silence, she left the bridge with a knowing smile. Only several minutes after the door shut behind her did his awareness start to return. Feeling the heat emanating from his cheeks, he turned around to take a sip of his lukewarm tea.

Then, he smiled, the expression partially hidden by the rim of the cup.


End file.
